and Public Works in the Northern Cape Legislature
15 June 2007
Honourable Madame Speaker and Deputy Speaker
Honourable Premier Dipuo Peters
Members of the Executive Council
Honourable Members of the Provincial Legislature
Members of the media
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
I feel greatly honoured to present this budget speech on behalf of the
collective in the Department of Transport, Roads and Public Works for the
2007/08 financial year. The African soil is drenched with the blood of those,
who through the centuries of oppression, have sacrificed their lives fighting
for a better life; who left the security and comfort of a mother's arms; who
were forced to live as aliens in a land that gave birth to them. Many of these
freedom fighters have been forced to leave the maturing African sun behind
them; they were forcefully separated from the refreshing mountain streams and
sinuous African rivers to seek refuge in other continents amongst people who
were not their own.
It would be sacrilegious to allow the blood of these heroes and heroines to
have seeped into the rich African soil without it producing a bountiful harvest
of the fruits of freedom. To honour the historical giants like Nelson Mandela,
Steve Biko, Chris Hani, Sol Plaatjie and Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu, the
Department of Transport, Roads and Public Works seeks to embrace the vision of
a better life for all.
We remain committed to the noble principles embodied in the Freedom Charter
adopted many years ago on a cold and dusty June afternoon in Kliptown in 1955.
What was then a dream is now a reality. The time has come to realise the ideals
embodied in this document and to personify the Batho Pele principles. No more
shall our people be allowed to go to sleep in poverty and wake up to a sunrise
called desperation.
Honourable Madame Speaker the call to war has sounded. It has urgency to it.
It is calling us to battle. We are called to battle poverty, unemployment,
prejudice, corruption and the historical imbalances of race, gender and
class.
As a department we are committed to serve the people of our province. This
means that we should serve them with honesty, loyalty, integrity and
commitment. Disloyalty to ourselves, the province and its people is a betrayal
of self and is a commodity that we cannot accept in our values of sacrifice and
service. We once again reaffirm our commitment to the noble ideals of the
Freedom Charter. We commit ourselves to assist in job creation and the
maintenance, upgrading and development of infrastructure for the benefit of
all.
I am delighted to stand before you and report that we have made remarkable
strides since we have visited with all units in the department to develop a
turnaround strategy and deepened the commitment to rebuilding a strong culture
of work ethics. Madame Speaker, we have set ourselves realistic goals and we
achieve them in order to better the lives of our people.
Amongst our achievements, we saw a dramatic improvement in terms of
financial management. The department has spent 99% of its total budget when we
closed our books during the previous financial year. Surely this is the
greatest achievement considering the fact that government takes financial
management seriously. This improvement ladies and gentlemen, was as a result of
better planning and the implementation of effective internal control systems
within the department.
Honourable members, the importance of skills development cannot be
overemphasised; we have the responsibility to develop employees in order to
improve service delivery in the public sector. In line with the Northern Cape
Human Resources Development Strategy, this year we have awarded 27 bursaries
internally to the employees to further their studies in courses such as: Public
Management, Transport and logistics Management, Civil Engineering, Quantity
Surveying, Project Management, Human Resource Management, Employee assistance
programming, Financial Management, Internal Auditing and Fleet management.
It goes without saying that the training and development of the employees
remains a high priority. In the past years and even now, the department is
offering courses to employees from management level to lower ranks. The
training ranges from electrical and mechanical fields, quantity surveying,
management and leadership, etc. The brain drain in the engineering profession
in the department has compelled us to put great emphasis on skills development.
In the past year, we have seen a number of engineers as well as technicians
resigning to join the private sector and this move have really affected the
functioning of the department.
The boom in the infrastructure economic development forced the department to
intensify their effort in retaining technical and engineering skills
through:
* reviewing the salaries of engineers
* utilisation of state owned houses for employees identified as scarce
skills
* appointment of mentors to assist the technical personnel to register with
relevant councils. In order to realise this objective department has recently
advertised for retired engineers
* introduction of scarce skills allowance
* lastly the department aims to increase its investment in skills development
through the offering of bursaries.
In the Road Section, our road-workers have enrolled for the Adult Basic
Education and Training (ABET) to improve their literacy to enable them to
graduate from the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and to the Further
Education and Training programme. We believe that this will equip them with the
necessary knowledge and skills thus enabling them to apply for better jobs in
the department and in the public sector as a whole. For the past years we have
been paying skills levy to Construction Education and Training Authority
(CETA). In this financial year we intend to pay skills levy to Transport
Education and Training Authority Transport (TETA) as this will allow us to
utilise the discretionary grants from TETA to up-skill our taxi drivers.
Public Works
In relation to the Public Works Section of the department, which aims to
provide and maintain functional and accessible buildings and office
accommodation, a national decision has been taken that as from this financial
year that all Provincial Departments will be responsible for the management of
their own lease contracts and also budget for it. The Department of Transport,
Roads and Public Works is now utilising the old Floors Hostel as their offices.
This move will realise a total saving of R155 million over the next 15 years on
leases.
Madame Speaker, the Infrastructure Development Improvements Plan (IDIP) is
now being implemented following the appointment of the technical advisor for
Education. The infrastructure plan for education was received for Education and
subsequent to that we have prepared a project plan and submitted it to
Education. The technical advisor for Health will be appointed towards the end
of this month. Service delivery agreements are being developed between Public
Works and other client departments.
In order to ensure that IDIP is effectively and efficiently managed at a
strategic level, Provincial Programme Committee meetings are being held for the
successful implementation of the IDIP in the Northern Cape province. In
2006/2007 financial year, the Department completed these projects on behalf of
the following client departments:
Social Services
* In Groblershoop Multi Purpose Hall with a 200 seating capacity, was
completed to the tune of R988 000. The project provided jobs for sixty
people.
* Calvinia Multi Purpose Hall was completed at a cost of R1,5 million. The
project employed thirty people. The following projects are currently under
construction:
The Springbok Secure Care Centre is 20% complete and is employing 52 people.
A centre of the similar nature is being built in De Aar and has created fifty
jobs. In the same breath, a 200 seater Multi Purpose hall in Strydenburg is
almost complete. Two multi purpose centres will be constructed during the
course of this financial year in Louisvale and Calvinia. Sites have already
been identified for the development of these centres. Preliminary plans and
cost estimates have been completed.
Health
I am pleased to inform this honourable house that the department has
completed four new clinics. Just approximately a month ago, the Honourable
Premier officially opened the Garies Hospital which was completed to the tune
of R20 million.
The following projects are currently under construction in the Health
sector:
* The Barkley West hospital is 55% complete.
* The construction of the Kimberley Mental Health facility is at 40%.
* As directed by the client department, the construction of Upington, De Aar
and Postmansburg hospitals, are on hold.
Education
We have completed the building of the school in Douglas, whilst on the other
hand, the first phase of the ten class roomed school in Schmidtsdrift is in the
final stage of completion. We are also building another school in Postmansburg,
and it is currently 80% complete. The department will also construct a school
in Galeshewe at an estimated cost of R7 million. The contractor has already
been appointed.
Madame Speaker, this year alone, the department must implement 302 projects
on behalf of the Department of Education. The total Provincial Infrastructure
Grant (PIG) budget for these projects is R57 million and it will be used for
the construction of science laboratories, administration blocks, classrooms as
well as repairs and renovations. We have agreed during our meetings that some
EPWP initiative will be taken on board.
Lastly, under Public Works, Madame Speaker, as part of our efforts to ensure
that small contractors get the opportunity to participate in the procurement
offers that the department makes available on a regular basis, we have embarked
on a joint process, together with the Construction Industry Development Board
(CIDB), of ensuring that small contractors register with the CIDB. This
commenced with the first road-show that was held on 11 May 2007 in Kimberley.
These road-shows will be held throughout the province over the next month.
Roads
Honourable members, you will note that the bulk of this department's budget
expenditure, almost 63%, was allocated to road infrastructure since this is the
core mandate of this department. The budget for this programme is committed to
provide and maintain integrated road and infrastructure that is safe and
functional to support social and economic development in Northern Cape. Our
road infrastructure development plan for this year has been a culmination of
strategic consultations processes with the five districts with the focus on
Economic, Access and Project roads.
The following projects were completed during the 2006/07 financial year:
* The 11,3km road between Springbok and Komaggas, 75 people were
employed.
* In February, Premier officially opened the R14 million Mamatwan road
* The Teekloof pass which entailed the stabilisation of the mountain slope to
prevent rockfalls.
* The rehabilitation of twenty-four bridges throughout the province.
* The shoulders of the 60 kilometres road between Upington and Groblershoop
were widened. Furthermore, an amount of R1,2 million was spent to make single
lane bridges pedestrian friendly. The Holgat Bridge which was damaged by the
floods has since been repaired and completed this year. The departmental
construction team conducted an extensive rehabilitation work on the
Hopetown-Orania road.
Madame Speaker, the department is now in the process of constructing a new
surfaced road between Grootmier and Rietfontein. Construction has started and
the project is estimated to come to an end in April 2008. Also, a gravel road
section between Britstown and Vosburg will be upgraded to a surfaced standard
and the envisaged completion date is July 2008.
In a partnership between us and the Department and Environmental Affairs and
Tourism, 260 jobs were created from the upgrading of the road between
Andriesvale and Transfrontier Park. This road will increase the opportunities
for local and international tourism to the park, spanning over South Africa,
Botswana and Namibia. Phase one of the road has been completed. Projects for
the next three years are as follows:
Through initiatives from National Treasury through the IDIP programme as
well as improved long term planning the following projects is in the pipeline
for the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period:
Vosburg and Carnarvon
A gravel road section between Vosburg and Carnarvon will be upgraded to a
surfaced standard at a total cost of R84 million. The designs for this road are
at the final stage and the draft tender document was received during April
2006. The construction is planned to start late 2008/2009.
Norvalspond and Colesburg
This road is currently in urgent need of rehabilitation and claims were
already received from the public. The feasibility study is completed and
remedial works by the departmental team commenced during August 2005. More
specialised work need to be done therefore an amount of R1 million is budgeted
for the designing of the rehabilitation. The construction is scheduled only to
commence during 2009/10.
Tsineng and Ntsweng
A gravel road section of 22 kilometres between Tsineng and Ntsweng is
already designed and construction will commence during the next financial year.
The upgrading of this road will improve access and improve levels of mobility
for several communities in that area. We became aware that the yellow fleet has
reached the end of its life cycle and developed a replacement strategy. An
auctioneer has been appointed for the period of two years to assist in this
regard; the first auction took place on Tuesday, 12 June 2007, in Upington with
promising financial results. In the strategy that we developed, we have
indicated that ten graders will be refurbished and we will purchase forty new
graders over a period of three years.
Public Transport
Honourable members, the issue of public transport is giving us sleepless
nights. We are concerned that our people still do not have access to public
transport. One of the biggest challenges we encountered is ensuring that
transport functions are carried out at a local government level. Madame
Speaker, we have observed that in Northern Cape there is a shortage of taxi
ranks. To tackle this problem, we have set aside an amount of R3 million to
assist municipalities with the construction of ranks. To date 12 municipalities
were assisted with the development of designs and business plans for the
construction of public transport facilities. For this financial the
construction of taxi ranks will commence in the following towns:
* Pampierstad
* Barkley West
* De Aar
* Spingbok
* Kimberley.
Ladies and gentlemen, in October 2006 we hosted our Transport Month campaign
where we had an opportunity to assess the strengths and weaknesses of our
public transport system. We were able to determine that levels of mobility,
especially in our rural areas are still very low and intervention is required
to create opportunities for access and improved mobility levels. The department
has prepared and submitted a Business Plan as part of our bicycle project to
the national Department of Transport. The national Department of Transport has
committed to donate 500 bicycles for each bicycle shop we establish in the
province. It is our intention to establish six bicycle shops over the next
three years in support of the "Shova ka Lula" bicycle project.
These shops will enable easy access to spares and maintenance for
beneficiaries of these bicycles. This project is run in close consultation with
the Department of Education and the municipalities who will take responsibility
for the shops. It is for this reason that we jointly hosted the Transport
Consultative Conference with the Department of Safety and Liaison in December
2006. The aim of this conference was to chart a way forward, together with our
stakeholders, on the future of public transport, special needs transport and
road safety. The result of this conference was a draft Action Plan that was
approved by the Executive Council (EXCO).
The taxi recapitalisation programme honourable members, was launched in last
year in December with the opening of the scrapping depot in Kimberley. Five
taxis were scrapped during the launch and to date a total of 85 taxis have been
scrapped. We have put in place the necessary support structures to deal with
problems encountered by the Scrapping Agency. We will continue to intensify our
efforts to ensure that the recapitalisation programme gains momentum throughout
the province.
We have also renewed our commitment to the taxi industry by consolidating
our relations with the provincial taxi council. During this financial year we
will be assisting the Taxi council with their Economic Empowerment Strategy
that will chart the way forward for economic benefits for the taxi industry. In
order to ensure the success of the recapitalisation programme, we have now
consolidated the functioning of the Law Enforcement Forum in conjunction with
Department of Safety and Liaison, Justice, the South African Police Service and
municipal traffic. The aim of this Forum is to deal with all forms of
instability within the taxi industry as well as the increasing number of
illegal operators.
The Northern Cape Provincial Government has recognised the need to
revitalise rail operations in terms of both long distance rail passenger
transport and rail freight transport in the province. The need to revitalise
rail operations has, to a large extent, been influenced by the decline in the
economies of local towns, especially in the Pixley Ka Seme District and the
need to stimulate these economies through interventions that are aimed at using
existing strengths and infrastructure in these areas.
The department will embark on a consultative exercise with all the relevant
stakeholders to come up with ways of revitalising unused infrastructure in
order to create job opportunities for the communities in those areas. In
consultation with the various role players in the tourism industry, we will
develop proposals for the introduction of tourist rail services linking the
various tourist attractions in the province.
The inefficiency of any transportation system, and thus the constraints it
puts on economic activity in some parts of the province, forms the basis of the
need to remove existing inefficiencies in the rail sector. This is clearly
outlined in the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS) of the
province which calls for the promotion of an efficient and effective transport
system as one of the strategic interventions needed to attain the objectives of
the PGDS. In terms of the upgrading of the Douglas-Belmont rail line, the first
phase has now been completed and phase two will commence during this financial
year.
The 850 people employed for the first phase will continue with phase two.
Ladies and gentlemen, the team from the department has been tirelessly working
on a Freight Logistics Strategy. Various stakeholders took part in the
development of this strategy which will amongst others; provide an efficient
freight transport network to ensure that the province offers a competitive
environment in which firms can invest and operate.
On the other hand, the Freight Data Bank has also been finalised. At the
moment the focus has been on the finalisation of the White Paper on Transport
Policy as well as the Transport Master Plan. In July, we will be launching the
Green Paper on Transport Policy. We are delighted to inform the house that the
Aviation Forum has been established and is in full operation. The Aviation
Forum consists of provincial departments, Airports Company South Africa (Acsa),
municipalities as well as representatives from the private sector. With regard
to the Upington Cargo Hub initiative, the national department has committed to
assist with the development of a Nodal transport Strategy in support of the
Cargo Hub initiative. In addition we have established a support team consisting
of provincial departments that will be responsible for guiding the process and
advising the Political Committee tasked with leading the project.
EPWP
Madame Speaker, the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) is gaining
momentum. In his 2007 State of the Nation Address, President Mbeki stressed the
importance of up-scaling EPWP this year. As the EPWP champion in the province,
our responsibility is to ensure that there are opportunities for skills
development and creation of jobs across all the sectors. We intend to award the
President's statement a necessary attention. In Northern Cape, we have set a
provincial target of 15 000 job opportunities during the 2007/08 financial
years across all sectors i.e. the Economic, Social, Infrastructure and
Environmental sectors.
The department will spend R96 million for this financial year on EPWP
projects. Currently, on the roads section, 12 learners are involved in the
practical training in the construction of access roads in Noupoort,
Norvalspont, Vaalharts, Soebatsfontein and Hopetown. In order to strengthen the
development of our youth, we intend to launch "Learnership 500" through which
50 new ventures will be for the development of entrepreneurial and business
skills.
The remaining (450) learnerships will be as skilled artisans, technicians
and professionals within the Built Environment sector. Vuku'uphile programme
will be implemented to establish cadre of labour-intensive contractors. In the
past weeks, we placed adverts in the local print and electronic media for the
National Youth Service Programme (NYSP). Plans are underway to launch the
Provincial NYS Programme which will see 500 youth from all the districts
participating in refurbishing, repairing and renovating of a number of
provincial buildings. This programme will equip these youths with skills whilst
empowering them in the process.
Our ultimate objective is to ensure that all Expanded Public Works Programme
is linked to an effective exit strategy. The department secured R244 million
over the MTEF period from the national Department of Transport for the
implementation of the "Scaling-up" initiative designed to build and maintain
road infrastructure on EPWP principles.
The focus will be on access roads development because the only access to
many poor communities is through access roads, and access roads provide
tremendous opportunity for the creation of many labour intensive job
opportunities. This initiative forms part of the Accelerated and Shared Growth
Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) and will be implemented as part of the
broader initiative of increasing the scale of the EPWP Programme. In
partnership with the Kgalagadi District Municipality, the department will this
year start projects which will benefit 90 people in that area. Some of the
projects include road fencing and building of donkey carts for the domestic
market. In other areas, the following projects will be done:
* McDougall's Bay Beach Improvement Project (Project has commenced)
* Honderklip Bay Beach improvement project
* Pampierstad Taxi Rank
* Road signage project.
Access roads in:
* Mapoteng-Ellendale Access Road
* Hartswater at North-West Border (Christiana)
* Longlands Access Road
* Victoria West Access Road
* Schmidtsdrift Access Road
* Garies hospital Access Road
* Uap road.
EPWP in the Environment and Culture sector
In terms of the Environment and Culture Sector of the Expanded Public Works
Programme, programmes are implemented through labour intensive methods and
contribute significantly to short term job opportunities whilst they also offer
learning and skills development opportunities to the majority of the unemployed
people that are trapped in the second economy. Through the partnership with the
Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC), the "Investing in Culture"
programme, jobs opportunities have been created. This has increased the
potential of participants to earn a future income by providing work experience,
training and small, medium and micro enterprise (SMME) development.
The Environment and Culture Sector of the Expanded Public Works Programme
comprises of the programmes that are reasonably established. These programmes
are implemented through labour intensive methods and contribute significantly
to short term job opportunities whilst they also offer learning and skills
development opportunities to the majority of the unemployed people that are
trapped in the second economy.
Madam Speaker, We need to understand that two fundamental strategies
underpin the government's approach to reducing unemployment. Firstly, to
increase economic growth so that the number of net new jobs created starts to
exceed the number of new entrants into the labour market and secondly to
improve the education system such that the workforce is able to take up the
largely skilled work opportunities which will be generated as an outcome of the
economic growth. Short to medium-term strategies have been put in place to
contribute towards these strategies. The EPWP forms one of government's short
to medium-term strategies.
This has increased the potential of participants to earn a future income by
providing work experience, training and SMME development. The challenge amongst
others for these funded projects is infrastructure as all projects need an
operational area. Founded on the fundamentals of integrated planning in dealing
with the challenges of local economic development and poverty reduction, the
Department of Public Works is committed in dealing with this challenge by
forming partnership a with Department of Sport, Arts and Culture to ensure
accessibility of available infrastructure for the benefit of funded projects. I
have requested our EPWP unit to study the outcomes of the Cultural and Heritage
conference held last year in Victoria West and see how we can explore
opportunities of enhancing jobs in the EPWP strategy.
With the incorporation of the Kgalagadi area into Northern Cape, the
department received an additional 172 staff. Honourable Members, I need to
inform you that there is a huge backlog on infrastructure in that area. At the
moment, we are reclassifying the roads in that area and have already identified
three roads that will be upgraded over the next five years. With regard to
state houses, they are currently being rented out at nominal value and not
market related rental.
In terms of roads, 41 kilometres paved roads and 915 kilometres gravel roads
have been added to our network. The total amount of paved roads in the province
is 3 025 kilometres, including the portion in Kgalagadi District Municipality.
The overall condition of paved roads in the Northern Cape has deteriorated from
85% in 1991, to 66% in 2006.
Madame Speaker, we are concerned that the condition of our roads is
deteriorating and there is limited budget allocation for the next three years
for resealing of roads. The insufficient funding will result in lack of
maintenance or the delays will cause further deterioration of the surface
condition of the paved roads. The department has a budgeted R52 million for the
maintenance of gravel roads and R23 million for surfaced roads. This financial
year, we will design the following projects with the road infrastructure
funding:
* Black Rock and McCarthy's Rest
* Tsineng-Ntsweng road (Design Completed)
* Square Kilometre Array
* Vosburg and Carnavon (Design Completed)
* Norvalspont-Colesberg
* Verlatenkloof Pass
* Pofadder-Onseepkans Road
* Churchill-Bendel
* Barkly-West-Hartsrivier (Design Completed).
With the identification of tourism roads and economic routes within the
province to enhance infrastructure for economic growth and social development
the Douglas-Campbell road was selected for upgrading. We are pleased to
announce that the construction of the upgrading of 28 kilometres
Douglas-Campbell road at the cost of R45 million will commence later this
year.
Meanwhile ladies and gentlemen, the department has developed a new Road
Maintenance Strategy due to the shortage of road workers resulting from ill
health and retirement. We will develop contractors from within the community to
do the maintenance on roads on EPWP principles. Twenty five million rands will
be distributed according to the identified poverty pockets in the province to
create an estimated 1 500 jobs. The work will consist of rest areas shoulder
re-gravelling, re-gravelling and drainage structure.
A decision was taken at the stakeholders meeting to create an alternative
N12 route through Kimberley after an observation that the Big Hole, next to the
road, is caving in due to the high traffic volume. After looking at five
options for the traffic to be used through Kimberley, the bypass, a new road
through Kimberley was decided on as the most favourable option to release the
current load on the stressed road.
The Sol Plaatje Municipality is busy with a disaster management plan to
address risk of the Big Hole caving in, in the short term. As part of the Big
Hole development a 2 500 seater conference centre, at an estimated cost of R118
million will be constructed.
Organisational structure
After discussions between the executive management of the department and
taking into consideration political mandates and the changing environment in
which we are working, and thereby re-aligning the strategic direction of the
department it became necessary to re-align the organisational structure of the
department, to meet its strategic goals. In addition to the latter we as a
Department also had to make provision for the incorporation of the North West
departments of Transport and Public Works. In due course a new proposed
organogram will be forwarded to Department of Public Service and Administration
(DPSA) and the Governance and Administration committee.
In addition to the above, the proposed organisational structure of the
Department of Transport, Roads and Public Works was scrutinised to assess the
current number of posts attached to the department and to further look into the
number of posts that would be necessary to deliver on the new mandates of the
department. The proposed organisational structure has been a process of
consultation with all stakeholders within the department and we are convinced
that the new structure will assist the department in delivering on its mandates
and reaching its strategic goals.
Honourable members
I therefore take this opportunity to table an amount of R519 million for
2007/08 financial year, as follows:
* Administration: Seven percent of total budget R38 million
* Public Works, ten percent of total budget R54 million
* Road Infrastructure, 70% of total budget R363 million
* Public Transport three percent of total budget R13 million
* Community Based Programme, ten percent of total budget R51 million.
The annals of history faithfully record great battles waged by great
generals, from Alexander the Great, to Napoleon Bonaparte to Shaka. These men
are often credited with the victories. Great generals may plan great battles,
but is it the soldiers who actually determine the outcome. History fails to
bestow on them the honour that they so richly deserve. History fails to honour
the faithful soldiers who selflessly sacrifice their lives for the greater
good. I do not want to fail my "soldiers" by selfishly basking in the
glory.
Hence, I would like to thank the men and women in my department, under the
leadership of the acting Head of Department (HOD) Ruth Palm, for their
dedication and commitment to better the lives of the communities of Northern
Cape. Words of gratitude are extended to the members of the Portfolio Committee
for their unwavering support. I also want to pay homage to my ministerial staff
marshalled by my personal assistant Nico Fourie, "Malume" thank you for your
commitment.
I want to thank the Honourable Premier, Ms Dipuo Peters, you for the
political guidance and for always reminding us of the oath we took to serve the
masses. This is also extended to my colleagues in the executive. Finally, I
would like to thank my wife and my family for their support, patience and
commitment.
Ke a leboga! I thank you! Baie dankie!
Issued by: Department of Transport, Northern Cape Provincial
Government
15 June 2007
Source: Northern Cape Provincial Government (http://www.northern-cape.gov.za)
